I often see car enthusiasts openly discuss great motors like the lsx series of engines, ford’s 5.0/302, the kseries, 4g63’s and 2jzgte’s as examples.

I rarely see any open discussion of 3sgte engines, theyre older motors i gather that toyota developed in the 80s for WRC and eventually jgtc.

In terms of specs, its similar to a 4g63, turbocharged, iron block, aluminum head, dohc, 4valves per cylinder, oem 540cc injectors, etc.

In car communities i never see folk so little as mention those motors in discussions, almost like they never existed in the consciousness of car enthusiasts at all.

Was it a bad motor is why it got ignored or what’s going on here?

  • Noobasdfjkl@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Good engine, but technologically behind its contemporaries, really heavy, and worse in parts availability compared to almost all the other Japanese performance 4 cylinders. Easier to make power with SR20, K20/24, or 4G63T.

    • TropicalBlueMR2@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I dont agree with some of that.

      The engibe had 5 uopdates in its lifespan.

      The only really rare/custom parts i have a hard time finding/albeit not impossible are high quality aftermarket intake/exhaust manifolds. Have i ever had a 3sgte down long term due to utter lack of parts? No.

      Power delivery, im not entirely sure what qualifies as good vs bad. The motor is almost like a 2/3 2jzgte. 2jzgte’s are heavy and very famous for being overengineered for substantially more power.

      Stock ecu/fuel system on my gen 3, is good out to 300-330whp. My biggest concern is age of components 30 years deep. When all this stuff was newer, not so much.

      Stock bottom end is good into 400 or450whp b4 i might start to lose confidence. Its an older motor, its co temporaries are 4g63, ej20, honda bseries, and sr20det. Some of the 4th/5th gens have oem chickenlegs for rods that id lose faith in after 350whp, i suspect thats where that tidbit comes from. Iirc the gen2s and gen3s are known for a robust oem stock bottom end for substantial increases in power.

      Im personal friends with one of the foremost tuners of 3s/5sgte’s in the country, hes been doing it for 20 years…im curious how much he’d agree with what’s been stated.